Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

Can't see much point in scraping the sender mounting point, as the sender is insulated from the tank by a rubber sealing gasket, so any earth must be through the fixing screws.
Brian

Good point there.. I hadn't though of the gasket because I threw the old one away (it was leaking). Omicron is sending a new one with my order, but they had to build be a right floor panel for me so it hasnt shipped yet.

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

Came as a bit of a surprise how compressed the old one was when I changed, the new one was a our 4 times as thick!
Thinking about the earth, I can't remember seeing a separate earth anywhere, only the two wires going to the sender.
Brian

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

As Tim noted, the (6, if memory serves) sender screws aren't self-tapping, so cleaning the tank threads is a good idea, as that's how the sender grounds. And as Geoff notes, the asymmetric fan blades are about harmonics rather than aerodynamics.

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

Originally Posted by 1,6 HF

As Tim noted, the (6, if memory serves) sender screws aren't self-tapping, so cleaning the tank threads is a good idea, as that's how the sender grounds. And as Geoff notes, the asymmetric fan blades are about harmonics rather than aerodynamics.

Indeed there are 6, non self-tapping screws that hold the sender in place. Should be a fairly easy job to clean out the threads. Thanks for all the input everyone!

Pretty sure my NOS armature is getting delivered today so it looks like I have a shot at having the car running this weekend and testing out if I've fixed the overheating issue and charging system issue!

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

So... The progress I wanted to make over the weekend didn't happen. The armature that I've been waiting on from Italy only just arrived last night. So last night I took the time to put my dynamo back together with the new armature and give it a test. This time I tested it correctly (with the D- and DF terminals jumped together to ground) and the D+ connected to positive on the battery terminal). Lo and behold, she spins! I was starting to get a little frustrated with the dynamo when my plan to re-wrap the old armature didn't work out because of insulation stack up. I had even considered buying a dynator even though they are prohibitively expensive.

I now know why the flathead countersink screws were so hard to get off in the first place. With new insulation applied, I had to clamp the field coil shoe very hard to allow me to screw in the screw far enough to get clearance to install the armature into the dynamo. I also cleaned up the generator as much as possible. Even sanded on it and clear coated the outside, but the appearance is still not spectacular in my opinion. No worries though, not like you can easily see it when everything is installed, and it's MUCH better than when I removed it.

So looks like I should actually be able to get the car running this upcoming weekend barring some unforeseen obstacle.

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

Made some good progress this weekend, although there were a couple frustrating moments.

Since my dynamo was rebuilt, I had everything necessary to get the car running again. I assembled all those parts back on to the car (forgetting the little adjustable stop that bolts where the mechanical fan goes, but hey it was just a test run so i didn't sweat it too much). Had a little bit of an issue with a water leak from the bottom attachment points of the aluminum intake tube. I can tell that one of the threads is close to being stripped, so I'm trying to be gentle so I won't have to pull the piece it connect to and put a helicoil in it. Anyway, took a while to get the car to crank because it's been sitting for a while, but eventually I got it going. Seems to be running better than before (I switched to new spark plugs). I think the carbs will probably need rebuilding because the choke must be on a little or the car will slowly taper off and die. Makes me think the idle jets may be clogged but I haven't looked at the exploded views for these and have no clue how they come apart. **Pours in seafoam and prays** Just kidding, I'll be rebuilding them when the kit from Omicron comes in. In the meantime, is there any easy way to get to and clean out the idle jets?

So the good news: THE CHARGING ISSUE IS FIXED. charging light goes away quickly when the engine runs above 1000-1500 or so rpm. And the cooling system no longer seems to boil over.

And that brings me to the bad news: It's not running as cool as I was expecting. I can tell it is cooling because it will get a little bit past halfway between the 70 and 100 and then it'll cool and go closer to 70 before creeping back up again. Should it stay right at 70??

Anyway, I think I've decided just to get a new radiator. I was playing around repositioning it because the cap was hitting the hood when closed and I caused something to start leaking near the bottom of the radiator, potentially the return line from the drain cock. Instead of fooling around with this bent up, no doubt clogged up, radiator, I figured I might as well just get a new one and not have to worry about it.

In other news, I got the filler neck painted black here about 20 minutes ago. I probably would have preferred to paint it the body color of the vehicle, but that has become an area of confusion as well. Initially I thought the car was Turchese Mereveld, but now I REALLY doubt that. I ordered some touch up paint in that color and it is nowhere close to what's actually on the car. Maybe its Mendoza Blue? Maybe some of you that are more familiar with the colors can help narrow down what it actually is painted.

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

Originally Posted by 1,6 HF

It the current photos are accurate, that looks more like blu Mendoza than turchese Mereveld

In some lights it can look a little green, but the photos are accurate for sure. I may just go to a local place and have them mix me some touch up paint. They've done a good job matching colors for my brother in the past.

Re: Taddraughn's Fulvia Coupe: Progress Thread

Could be your carbs are out of balance/ too low tick over. Wait till you strip and clean them through before trying to set up would be my advice. I do not know where you are going to get another radiator from??! Most folk have them recored if they are blocked/leaking. Temp should be closer to 85/90C assuming your gauge is anywhere accurate. Most Lancia Fulvia temp gauges underread in my experience.
What are those tiewraps doing on the top hose?